A Half Life 2 mod, covering adult themes. Game play is interesting to say the least. This is a series of short games, 2 of which have been released, with 4 more planned before the end of the year. Play it if you are interested in playing an arty game.

Another Half Life 2 mod, This time it takes a stab at combining both the adventure games puzzles with Half life’s action game play, there is no gunplay. Most puzzles are physics based, similarly to those in Half Life 2, yet ramped up considerably. There are a couple of flaws in the design and UI (particularly the final level: which can be solved by using the console). Again I would recommend this to most gamers.

A nice platformer (how I have missed you), ideally played on a 360 controller. Some pretty interesting game mechanics with the titular Character. Unfortunately this one isn’t free; it costs the equivalent of 800msp, $10 or £6-7. If you like 3D platformers such as Mario titles, Banjo titles, as well as any other similar platformers.

Another game from the guys who made The Maw, this time a 2.5D platformer. The puzzles in this are absolutely fantastic, the gameplay frantic. The game itself can be frustrating, but if you cannot do a section (and die enough) you can skip it. There is also a co-op campaign which is pretty good of what I played of it. The game itself is pretty quirky with the protagonist using famous quotes from actors and others, including: Arnie and Christian Bale. Again it isn’t free and has the same Price of The Maw (800msp/$10/£6-7). Buy it (if you have a 360).

An adventure game in a similar vein to classic lucasarts games. Some pretty decent puzzle design, which is accompanied by some excellent pixel art for the visuals. Play it if you are a fan of adventure games.

One of the first ‘indie’ games which I played. Another adventure here, very well done. Fantastic artwork, I can’t remember so much about this, but I remember it is well worth playing.

Recently I have been playing far too many of these, despite having a large back log of games to play through, so I shouldn’t really, however these games are often the ones that I enjoy the most, despite being the shortest. Maybe it is because they are so streamlined into the small package that they do not drag as much as many retail or downloadable games. I would urge you to play some of these and look for others, while recommending them to others. They may not be as polished as some other games; although this is not always true as retail games can often be quite shoddy. Remember mods were a strong influence on games in times gone by (capture the flag was originally a Mod, and now is a standard game type in most shooters), so would likely do the same for now and in the future.

About PattersOne of us since 4:19 PM on 07.27.2009

Hi I guess that's the best way to start. I am Patrick, a Maths student at the University of Manchester (UK). I am a gamer... no s**t, I have played games for over 15 years starting with Sega Megadrive, Super Nintendo and an Amiga A500. My console repertoire would be: Sega Megadrive 2, SNES, Gameboy, N64, PSOne, Gameboy Color (urgh I hate that spelling), GBA, Gamecube, Xbox, DS, Xbox 360 and most recently the Wii.

I enjoy pretty much any genre of game: from Shooter to JRPG to Platformer. The only genre which I don't get on particularly well with would be sports games.

My favourite games of all time would include: Full Throttle, Half-life 2, Splinter cell 3 and Skies of Arcadia among others.

Other than games I am pretty heavily into Music, particularly Rock and metal; with my favoutite bands including:InMe, Anthrax, Reuben, Fei Comodo, New Found Glory and Lamb of God. I am also a fan of all Joss Whedon's projects, particularly Firefly.